Over the past three days I, as countless others, have been stunned, shocked and horrified by the events that took place on September 11, 2001.  My mind still tries to comprehend the enormity of what happened -- the lives lost, the destruction.  My soul is grieving.  My spirit is broken.  I hold my son and thank God for him.  I pray that I will never have to face what the parents in the hijacked planes had to face, knowing that they were facing eternity with their babies in their arms.

I have also been hearing and reading things during this time that are more than bothersome to me.  First, it is obvious that the vast majority of people are trying to comprehend how anyone would commit such heinous acts.  These things are for all intents and purposes incomprehensible to our minds, and that is a good thing.  What we need to understand is that the people who carry out these terrorist acts do not in any way think the way that we do.  They do not hold dear the things that we do.  If they did, these things would not happen.

Another disturbing thing I continue to hear -- and it is not something new, but does need to be addressed -- is that the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is also the god of the Koran.  While the Koran does indeed claim Abraham as one of its progenitors, the god of the Koran is not the God of the Jewish and Christian Bible.  While the God of the Bible is loving and merciful, the god of the Koran is capricious and malevolent.

Those who hold fast to the teachings of the extremists have been weaned on hatred and believe beyond a shadow of doubt that they must eradicate anyone who serves a god other than their own -- Jew and Christian alike.  If the god of the Koran were indeed the God of the Bible there would be no dichotomy, but it is there and it is deadly.

People in the United States must come to terms with several truths now that terrorism has come so horrifically to our soil.  But the most important thing that we must do is pray.  Prayer is not a passive last resort.  Our prayers release God's salvation.  Our prayers release God's mercy and grace.  Our prayers release God's protection.  And our prayers help fuel the battle that rages in the heavenly.

Now, more than ever, we need to return to the God of our forefathers.  We must heed the word of God -- "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." II Chron. 7:14.  We, as born again believers in Jesus Christ, must humble ourselves, pray, seek the face of God and turn from our wicked ways.  Yes, we Christians, being the humans that we are, have wicked ways.  Then, once God's people have repented, God will hear us from heaven, He will forgive our sin and will heal our land.  And I believe that once God's people get their act together, God will pour out revival across this country the likes of which we have never seen before.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have survived and their families, the families of those who have perished, and with those who are risking their safety to search for those who may remain.  Our prayers are also with President Bush and those in his administration and our military who all have grave decisions to make.  We pray that they will be led by the Hand of God.

May God bless and protect us all.

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